Back Issue - #142 by PressPad

SUPER ISSUE starring SUPERBOY in the BRONZE AGE 023

2 4 1 . o N April 2

$ 10.

Super Mario Bros. • Superfan • Super Goof • Super Richie • Super-Dagwood & more

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Interviews with TV Superboy stars GERARD CHRISTOPHER and STACY HAIDUK

™

Volume 1, Number 142 April 2023 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Dave Cockrum (Originally produced as the cover art for the Superboy edition of Aurora Comic Scenes [1974]. Original art scan courtesy of Heritage Comic Auctions.) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER David Baldy SPECIAL THANKS Cookie Morris Mark Arnold Nintendo of Wayne Brooks America Inc. Dewey Cassell Luigi Novi Gerard Karla Ogle Christopher Sassy Ann Shenefield DC Comics Steven Thompson Erin Gray Walt Disney Stacy Haiduk Productions Jack C. Harris Karl Heitmueller, Jr. John Wells Heritage Comics Auctions Denis Kitchen Krypto the Superdog Zaddick Longenbach Andy Mangels Robert Menzies Brian K. Morris

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BACKSEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 FLASHBACK: Superboy: The Bronze Age Boy of Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Smallville’s favorite son, without the Legion of Super-Heroes WHAT THE--?!: The Far Out Green Super Cool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Frank Thorne’s trippiest comic book was actually produced for school children FLASHBACK: Super Goof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 You’d have to be nuts not to love Disney’s Super-Goobered do-gooder ONE-HIT WONDERS: Super Soul Comix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 ‘Grass’ Green’s over-the-top Blaxploitation super-comic BEYOND CAPES: Superfan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 The MADcap hero that both comic readers and football fanatics can cheer for FLASHBACK: Super Richie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 The adventures of a mighty manservant and a poor little rich boy wonder WHAT THE--?!: Super-Dagwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Blondie’s hubby with the bottomless appetite becomes a witless wonderman PRINCE STREET NEWS: More Characters Go Super . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Karl Heitmueller, Jr. super-izes everyone from Dick Tracy to Millie the Model INTERVIEWS: Superboy’s Gerard Christopher and Stacy Haiduk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Exclusive Q&As with the live-action series’ Superboy/Clark Kent and Lana Lang ROUGH STUFF: Superman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 We didn’t want to leave THE most super-superhero out of this “Super Issue”! BEYOND CAPES: Super Mario Bros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 A Valiant move to make a comics star out of a hot video-game character IN MEMORIAM: Alan Grant and Michael Ambrose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 BACK TALK: Reader Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 BACK ISSUE™ issue 142, April 2023 (ISSN 1932-6904) is published monthly (except Jan., March, May, and Nov.) by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 4490344. Periodicals postage paid at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Back Issue, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-inChief, 112 Fairmount Way, New Bern, NC 28562. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Eight-issue subscriptions: $97 Economy US, $147 International, $39 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover artwork by Dave Cockrum. Superboy and Krypto TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All editorial matter © 2023 TwoMorrows and Michael Eury except Prince Street News, TM & © 2023 Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING

Super Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

by J o

hn Wells

The Thrill Is Gone If the Smallville Sensation knew what was in store for him in the emerging Bronze Age— creative team changes, the Legion taking over his magazine, a bumpy ride back to solo stardom, and his erasure from continuity in 1986’s The Man of Steel Superman reboot— he might have been tempted to really chuck it all for good, beyond this catchy cover to Superboy #168 (Sept. 1970). Art by Neal Adams. Special thanks to John Wells for providing the majority of this article’s art scans. TM & © DC Comics.

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For two decades, few comic books had commanded such consistent, stratospheric success as Superman. Worthy competitors—most recently Uncle Scrooge and Walt Disney’s Comics Stories and the TV-fueled Archie and Batman—came and went, but the Man of Steel still stood strong in 1968. Superman’s influence also ensured that his companion titles, like Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, World’s Finest Comics, Action Comics, and Adventure Comics, were among the industry’s bestsellers. Nonetheless, one book rose above the rest. Superboy. “The adventures of Superman as a boy,” as the famous tagline declared, had been conceived by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for November 1944’s More Fun Comics #101. Although largely ignored by the primary series, Superboy quickly gained a large following, moving to Adventure Comics in 1946 and acquiring a self-titled comic book in 1949. During the 1950s and early 1960s, the feature often used its unique status to reveal new facets about Superman’s past and retroactively detail his first meetings with multiple figures that figured into his adult life. According to information assembled by John Jackson Miller at his Comichron website, Superboy was typically the second or third bestselling title in the industry between 1961 and 1969. That pivotal period had been edited by Mort Weisinger, but the glory days were behind the longtime Superman editor. Most of the talent that drove some of Superman’s most memorable stories was gone now—some fired, some taken by death—and the limited talent pool remaining had forced the veteran editor to pad out most of his comics with reprints. Meanwhile, Weisinger was also dealing with the shakeup of the art teams on those books, a mandate from DC’s new art director Carmine Infantino that was meant to freshen the look of the comics and better compete with rival Marvel. Among the casualties were longtime Supergirl and Superboy artists Jim Mooney and George Papp, whose styles were deemed out of date. In a bitterly ironic touch, one of Papp’s final stories (January 1968’s Superboy #145) illustrated an Otto Binder script about an alien cinematographer whose audience scoffed at Superboy’s aged foster parents and demanded younger “actors” in his films about the Boy of Steel. Hence, the filmmaker used a serum to permanently rejuvenate them. The tale had been a reaction to recurring reader complaints that the white-haired Ma and Pa Kent looked more like grandparents than the more youthful fathers and mothers that most kids had.

Great Moments in Superboy History (top left) Although the Boy of Steel premiered in More Fun Comics #101, he didn’t earn a cover appearance until issue #104 (July–Aug. 1945)—and had to share the space with comedy characters Dover and Clover! Cover artists: Stan Kaye (Superboy) and Henry Boltinoff (Dover and Clover). (top right) The Golden Age Superboy found a happy home in Adventure Comics beginning with issue #103 (Apr. 1946). Cover by Joe Shuster and Kaye. (bottom left) DC called in the big gun—Superman—to help sell the first issue of Superboy (Mar.–Apr. 1949). Cover by Wayne Boring and Kaye. (bottom right) Toward the end of the Silver Age, foster parents Jonathan and Martha Kent got a dramatic makeover in Superboy #145 (Mar. 1968). Cover by Neal Adams. Covers courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www. ha.com). (opposite page) Speaking of DC’s most photorealistic artist, Superboy’s late–Silver Age covers by Adams were always something to look forward to. (Join us next issue for our special Neal Adams tribute edition.) TM & © DC Comics.

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IN THE DOGHOUSE

Out of Time (top) Krypto was one of the book’s supporting cast members mostly ignored in the series during writer Frank Robbins’ writing tenure. The biggest curiosity of the cover to Superboy #154 was its depiction of contemporary (for 1968) fashions in a series set in the past! Cover art by Irv Novick, with Superboy alterations by Neal Adams. (bottom) Lex Luthor, shown here in a panel from issue #166, was another character rarely seen at this time. TM & © DC Comics.

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Following the sequel, Bash went into limbo before ultimately being revived as a regular supporting cast member in 1977. Other than Ma and Pa Kent and Lana Lang, Robbins generally eschewed most familiar faces from the Silver Age. Krypto the Super-Dog was deemed silly as the 1970s neared and—reprints notwithstanding— made only three appearances during Robbins’ run (Superboy #154, 162, and 163) before vanishing from the entire family of Superman books. Police Chief Parker also became a rare presence, glimpsed in Superboy #149, 160, 164, 168, and 180 during Boltinoff’s tenure. Secretly defending Clark Kent from exposure as Superboy (even Clark didn’t know that he knew his dual identity), Pete Ross had been prominent in the series between 1961 and 1963. His appearances since had been few (including a memorable turn in a 1968 Legion of Super-Heroes two-parter) and Robbins used him only once, in issue #160 (Oct. 1969). Pete’s role in that story basically entailed his maintaining his composure as Clark and Lana each lost control of their hormones in the presence of mysterious Egyptian exchange student Cleop Amahdi. As vividly portrayed on Neal Adams’ cover, Superboy exiled himself to the moon after being convinced that he killed Cleop. Meanwhile, a jealous Lana seemed to kill her rival a second time by pushing her off a balcony. Despite an outrageous resolution involving a vengeful archaeologist and a resurrected Cleopatra, the Robbins/Brown/Wood story sold the drama of it all. The teenage incarnation of Lex Luthor returned in Superboy #159, unmasked in its climax as the mastermind who had framed the Boy of Steel for international acts of destruction. The Phantom Zone villains returned soon after in issue #162, wherein the Boy of Steel was trapped in their other-dimensional prison as the shapeshifting Cham-El replaced him on Earth. A footnote referenced an earlier Phantom Zone tale reprinted in 1968’s 80-page Giant Superman #212 and indicated that Robbins was using such giant reprint collections to bone up on Kryptonian lore. Superman #193’s reprint from Action Comics #223 (Dec. 1956) inspired a full-fledged sequel. The original story had detailed Jor-El’s futile attempt to convince the Science Council of Krypton’s impending destruction. Two scientists who did believe him— Khai-Zor and Val-Arn—were exposed as self-serving villains who envisioned conquering Earth rather than taking refuge there. In Superboy #158 (July 1969, on sale in May), the Boy of Steel received a crackling message from his long-dead parents and soon found himself in space alongside a Kryptonian survivor named Dr. Krylo. Against the wishes of Jor-El and Lara, the scientist had cryogenically frozen the couple and fired them into space before Krypton’s explosion. Krylo had fled in his own rocket and was ultimately set free by yet another escapee: the evil Khai-Zor, now calling himself Xonar. Superboy found himself with twin dilemmas: He not only had to prevent the vengeful Xonar from killing him, but he needed to figure a way to free his parents’ craft from an impenetrable field of kryptonite. With the help of his adoptive father Jonathan, Superboy succeeded in both tasks, only to receive a tragic surprise. As preparations to awaken the couple were initiated, a prerecorded message from Jor-El revealed that he and Lara’s investigation of their world’s impending doom had fatally dosed them with radiation poisoning. Fearing that Krylo might defy their wishes, Jor begged anyone hearing the message to let them rest in peace rather than subject them to a short, agonizing resurrection. Tearfully following their wishes, the Boy of Steel returned his parents’ virtual tomb to the depths of space. “‘Superboy’s Darkest Secret’ was sensational!” future pro Mark Evanier (then 17) proclaimed in issue #161’s letters column. “Far be it for this back seat editor to use the term lightly, but it was excellent.” Murray Boltinoff seemed stunned by the reception from fans, remarking that “never in our vast experience with comics mags has a story drawn so much laudatory mail.” For those protective of the Superman mythology, though, the idea of Jor-El and Lara continuing to survive after a fashion was too much of a departure and it was widely regarded in that circle as non-canonical.

SUPERBOY ENTERS THE BRONZE AGE

1969 had been a good year for the Boy of Steel. Like most comics in the industry, sales had fallen over the previous year—not helped by a price increase from 12¢ to 15¢—but Superboy still sold an average of 465,462 copies per issue, surpassed only by Archie and Superman, according to John Jackson Miller’s Comichron.com. Unfortunately for Superboy, Wally Wood left the book with issue #161. His immediate successor, inker Mike Esposito, brought his professional standards to the feature, but the atmosphere that Wood bestowed on Brown’s pencils was no longer there. (Superboy’s spit curl did return on Esposito’s watch in issue #167.) After a year of full-length adventures, Boltinoff also decided to shift the book’s format primarily to two-stories per issue as of Superboy #163 (Mar. 1970, on sale in January). Space for the character moments that had defined much of Robbins’ run was suddenly at a premium. The shorter stories involved Superboy with a teenage reform school escapee (#163), android replacements of Pa Kent and Lana Lang (#164), an entombed duplicate of himself in a Mayan temple (#166), and a robbery built around a circus elephant (#167). In a sequel to Superboy #84 (Oct. 1960), a false villain called the Rainbow Raider—no relation to the later Flash foe—made a comeback as a real bad guy (#164), while the young Luthor staged a return of his own in a kryptonite-coated costume (#166). Luthor came back again in Superboy #169

(Oct. 1970), the book’s first full-length story in months, one whose central hook was the seeming murder of Clark Kent during a bank robbery. No revival was as surprising as the one that was featured on Neal Adams’ cover for Superboy #167 (July 1970, on sale in May). Superbaby—the Man of Steel as a toddler—starred in his first new story in years. Featured in the occasional story during the 1950s and 1960s, Superbaby was the sort of cute, kid-friendly character that horrified readers who took their superhero comics seriously. Nonetheless, the Tot of Steel had his fans, and Boltinoff’s first priority was to deliver cover concepts that would sell comics. He was encouraged enough to commission a second Superbaby tale, one that ran in Action Comics #399 (Apr. 1971). Superboy #167 was also notable for introducing Bob Brown’s new inker. Murphy Anderson, a defining artist during DC’s Silver Age, was still a powerful force in the new age of Bronze, and he restored the inky weight and luster to Brown’s pencils that had been lacking since Wally Wood departed. That visual drama brought great power to issue #168’s lead story about Nazis infiltrating Smallville and attempting to mobilize townspeople against Superboy. (The issue’s backup is a curiosity, one that may have sat in inventory since Boltinoff took over the book. Scripted by Arnold Drake and drawn by Al Plastino and Mike Esposito, its menace was a negative-image version of Superboy himself.)

Bronze Age Bash-Ups Judging from startling covers such as (left) issue #164’s (Apr. 1970), Superboy took a darker turn in 1970—until (right) issue #167’s (July 1970) unexpected return of the impish Superbaby! Covers by Adams. TM & © DC Comics.

Super Issue • BACK ISSUE • 9

by D

ewey Cassell

No, I didn’t make that up. I usually try to come up with a creative title for my articles, but I can’t take credit for that one. Believe it or not, that was the name of a short-lived comic-book series in the early 1970s, and no “super” issue would be complete without it. It was the brainchild of Frank Thorne. Yes, the same Frank Thorne who later drew Red Sonja for Marvel Comics and dressed up as a wizard, touring the country with a bevy of models in scale-mail bikinis. But before Thorne became famous for his rendering of the “She-Devil with a Sword,” he was living in New Jersey, drawing Tomahawk for DC Comics [see BACK ISSUE #138—ed.], when he heard from a foundation that was interested in producing a promotional comic book. The idea of a promotional comic book was not new. Marie Severin and her brother John produced The Story of Checks for the Federal Reserve Bank in the 1950s. The American Iron and Steel Institute produced a comic book drawn by Irv Novick titled Steel about how the steel industry works as well as its uses and benefits to society. Both were distributed to consumers across the country. The Far Out Green Super Cool comic books were made for the school kids of New Jersey. The article “Is It Curtains for Crime Foe?” by Rudy Larini, which appeared in the March 25, 1975 issue of the Central New Jersey Home News, explained, “The books are geared to children in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades and are distributed primarily through schools and social agencies.” They were produced by the Social Welfare Research Foundation (SWRF). According to the Special Collections and University Archives at Rutgers University Libraries, “The Council for Human Services in New Jersey… was founded in 1901. Its purpose was to ‘bring together the hundreds of men and women who are dealing at firsthand with the problems of human affliction and distress,’ and to show ‘the points of contact, and the need of co-operation between private benevolent agencies and public relief officers.’ … [T]he Council founded a branch organization, the Social Welfare Research Foundation of New Jersey, in 1964. The purpose of the Foundation was to raise money to perform and disseminate research in the field of social welfare.” As noted in the Central New Jersey Home News article, “The foundation had produced two un-illustrated pamphlets on juvenile law—one in 1967 and a second in 1970—but the format was

Far Out, Indeed Cover to Frank Thorne’s The Far Out Green Super Cool #3 (1973), introducing Super Cool Kid (who we bet you never heard of until now). Scan courtesy of Dewey Cassell. © Social Welfare Research Foundation (SWRF).

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This article contains peanuts, a.k.a. “goobe rs.” If you have a known peanut allergy, you might wish to skip to the Super Soul Comix ar ticle elsewhere in this issu e at this time. Making his debut way back in the 1932 cartoon Mickey’s Revue as a one-off audience character with an annoying “hyuck, hyuck” laugh, Dippy Dog became Dippy Dawg, then Goofie, and finally, the simple and descriptive… Goofy. Goofy has always been the third wheel of the classic Disney triumvirate, outclassed by his pals Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck in both cartoons and comic books—particularly in comic books. Disney comics were once the biggest-selling comic books in the United States, and yet outside of a handful of issues in Dell’s Four Color anthology series, Goofy never even had his own title until Goofy Adventures debuted in 1990. Well… that’s not entirely true. In between the demise of Four Color and the premiere of Goofy Adventures came the one and only… Super Goof!

by S t e v e n

Thompson

Super Issue • BACK ISSUE • 29

THE ORIGIN OF SUPER GOOF

False Starts (top) The first version of Super Goof, in The Phantom Blot #2 (Apr. 1965). (bottom) This hero’s second appearance was in this backup story that ran in Donald Duck #102 (July 1965). © Disney.

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Like many a great idea, Super Goof had many fathers. In fact, Cathy Sherman Freeman told Disney historian Jim Korkis in 2013 that her father George, head of Disney Publications in the mid-1960s, came up with the concept of Super Goof in conjunction with Disney UK merchandising rep Peter Woods, then left it to writer Del Connell to develop. Connell was a veteran writer for Disney’s cartoon studio who had transitioned to comic books for Western Publishing in the mid-1950s. Other than Super Goof, his most notable comics creation was probably Gold Key’s venerable Space Family Robinson title. In his initial Silver Age appearance, in The Phantom Blot #2 (Apr. 1965), Super Goof wasn’t quite yet the hero fans would come to know and love. In fact, he wasn’t even super. He only thought he had superpowers, and that boosted Goofy’s confidence to a dangerous level. Super Goof seemed very much a one-shot character in that issue, but almost before you know it, he was back, this time in his own backup story in Donald Duck #102 (July 1965). It’s possible someone higher up told Connell, “No, no, no. You misunderstood! We didn’t want just a superhero parody. We wanted an actual superhero!” Goofy had real superpowers in his second adventure, bestowed by a super-scientific cape given to him by inventor Gyro Gearloose. The cape idea mimicked the real world, where kids would tie towels around their necks like capes and get actual confidence boosts by pretending the capes gave them superpowers. Unfortunately, there were reports of kids having accidents by letting their imaginations run away with them and thinking those capes really did provide them with powers. That may be why Goofy ended up with an entirely different power source starting with his next appearance. Reportedly it was Western editor Chase Craig who decided to give Super Goof his own book and came up with the final explanation for Goofy’s superpowers— “Super Goobers.” Korkis said that Craig, in those days when peanut allergies were considered rare, figured a child emulating Goofy by eating peanuts wasn’t likely to ever be an issue. Along with being an informal term for a peanut, “goober” is also defined as a funny, naïve, silly, or ignorant person: You know—Goofy! Goofy and his goobers were meant for each other. How those goobers got to be Super Goobers is a different story, and apparently unknown. A website called The Unified Disney Comics Wiki says, “Super Goobers were created when Goofy planted a peanut plant in his garden. A meteor struck the soil nearby it, and the peanuts absorbed the power contained within the meteor. Goofy, eating one, found that they gave him superpowers, and a costume to go with them.” Korkis credited editor Chase Craig with the meteorite idea, and a dozen or more websites back it up, and yet this info is nowhere to be found in the stories themselves, something also noted by several websites. In Super Goof #7 (June 1967), we learn that Gyro can re-create Super Goobers in his atomic hothouse, but they’re giant-sized and presumably inedible. This is borne out when the villainous Beagle Boys learn about the Super Goobers in issue #31 (Aug. 1974) and grow them to giant-size so Goofy can’t eat a whole one; Goofy learns he does need to eat a whole one to get his powers. In a continuity implant credited to writer Vic Lockman, our hero remembers that, years ago, he was eating imported Mexican peanuts (from Pancho Peanuts) when he tossed an “unusual” one into his

In 1972, Soul was IN! Soul music; soul food; soul brothers… Black was beautiful, baby! Shaft and Super Fly were on the big screen and Marvel’s Luke Cage made his debut. It was into this receptive environment that African-American cartoonist Richard “Grass” Green launched his most personal comic to date—Super Soul Comix! Prior to that, Richard Green had become one of the few BNFs (Big Name Fans) of early comics fandom to actually turn pro. His nickname had by S originally been “Grasshopper.” Roy Thomas recalls, teven Thompson “it was because he was so active, hopping around all the time like a grasshopper… and it soon got shortened to just ‘Grass.’” Already well known in the growing circles of comics fandom for his ambitious amateur science fiction/superhero creation Xal-Kor, the Human Cat, Green’s first pro comics story appeared from Charlton in 1966. The Shape was the Plastic Man– like hero of the very first issue of Charlton Premiere, designed as an experimental anthology title. From a Roy Thomas plot, Grass wrote and drew the Shape, with Frank McLaughlin inking. From there, Grass placed a number of other MAD-style fillers in various Charlton titles such as Go-Go and Abbott and Costello over the next few years. Although cartoony and hilarious, they didn’t seem to help his career momentum. In the early 1970s, though, Grass Green turned up in the censor-free underground comix with a story that even made publisher Denis Kitchen question what he was thinking! We can’t even describe it here! Denis tells BACK ISSUE, “In retrospect, [that story] was probably the most dangerous thing Kitchen Sink ever published.” After a similar story by R. Crumb received obscenity charges, Denis was worried, but now says, “Grass’ equally volatile story flew under the radar, even though that issue was on shelves for probably a decade, going through, I think, seven printings.” In the above-mentioned controversial story, the African-American cartoonist drew a supposed version of himself, only he was white. Kitchen says, “I really can’t say what motivated Grass to depict himself as white in that story. A regular theme of his was sex-crazed characters chasing white women, to the point that I strongly encouraged him to explore other veins. But, like Crumb and other underground colleagues, he had his own obsessive themes. Grass loved the freedom in underrichard “grass” green grounds to do sexy stuff and that became his emphasis.” After ignoring or seemingly denying Black culture in so much of his work, Super Soul Comix #1 (Oct. 1972) seems to have been Green’s attempt at putting exaggerated Blaxploitation-style stories into comics form, complete with over-the-top sex, He’s Got Super Soul… violence, and language, including liberal usage of …and he’s super-bad. Richard “Grass” Green, that is, creator of the the dreaded “N” word. Grass had always loved Marvel-style superheroes. oddball comic, Super Soul Comix #1 (Oct. 1972). In his early fan days, he had been rejected by Stan © Richard Green estate.

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Ok, here’s a riddle. Name a cartoon that was written by MAD’s Nick Meglin and drawn by MAD’s Jack Davis and published in paperback by MAD’s paperback publisher, Signet, but it doesn’t have anything to do with MAD. It even has a dedication to MAD’s Stan Hart and acknowledgement to MAD’s Jerry De Fuccio, Angelo Torres, Frank Jacobs… and no, it’s not MAD About Sports or More MAD About Sports or even The MAD Jock Book!

‘SUPERFAN’ KICKS OFF

The Superfan feature, written by Meglin and drawn by Davis, first appeared in the pages of Quarterback magazine in January 1970. Quarterback was renamed Pro Quarterback by year’s end. According to the Lambiek Comiclopedia, the Superfan comic, which ran in Pro Quarterback from 1970–1974, “tells the story of Y. A. Schmickle, a geeky boy who receives sporting powers of many great football players of the past by saying a magic spell. The comic satirizes much of early 1970s culture and society, while many well-known football players of the day have a cameo.” By 1972, enough Superfan installments had appeared in the magazine to compile and reprint them in paperback form, from New American Library. The first paperback, Superfan, had a Foreword from none other than the legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell, at the peak of his powers at the time. He was popular thanks to his regular appearances on Monday Night Football, which debuted on ABC-TV in 1970 and became a surprise hit, lasting on the network until 2005 and continuing on to the present day on ESPN. It was quite a coup at the time for Meglin and Davis to get Cosell. In his Foreword, Cosell remarked, “I think it’s about time Superfan became a book. Superfan has fun with football and so do [fellow sportscasters] Dandy Don Meredith, Faultless Frank Gifford, and Humble Howard Cosell. Superfan laughs at the three of us, and we laugh along with him.”

Strange Sports Stories Original cover painting by MADman Jack Davis for Superfan… Again!, the 1974 followup to the 1972 Superfan paperback. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). (opposite page) Original art (courtesy of Heritage) of page 2 of episode 12 of the “Superfan” feature in Pro Quarterback magazine. (Our apologies for the Charlie Chan panel, which some readers may find offensive, but is included here for the historical record.) Superfan © the estates of Nick Meglin and Jack Davis.

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by M

ark Arnold

by M a r k

Arnold

In a blatant attempt by Harvey Comics to add a superhero character to its comic-book line, what better way to do so than to have their starring character become a superhero? However, to quote the late Chris Barat, who used to write a regular column called “Richville Ruminations” in the long-running Harvey Comics fanzine The Harveyville Fun Times!, “Let’s get one thing out of the way up front. Title or no title, there was NEVER anything ‘Super’ about Super Richie (a.k.a. SupeRichie) and his faithful butler companion Cadbury or, as they are better known, Rippy and Crashman.” Harvey Comics did publish superheroes before, from the athletic gymnast Black Cat in the 1940s and ’50s (no relation to the Marvel villain that debuted in 1979 in Amazing Spider-Man); to Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s Golden Age series Stuntman; to the last real attempt to do superhero comics, the Joe Simon–produced Harvey Thriller line from the mid-1960s that featured many Jim Steranko– created characters and concepts including Spyman and Magic Master. By the 1970s, any pretense was gone of Harvey Comics publishing anything other than a line of children’s comic books. Beginning in 1971, Harvey’s expansion of titles starring their existing characters including Casper, Hot Stuff, Spooky, and Sad Sack was the order of the day. By 1975, these spinoff titles contracted and long-running series starring Baby Huey, Little Dot, Little Audrey, and Little Lotta were cancelled, including their original starring books. The one exception to this rule was Richie Rich. The “Poor Little Rich Boy” made his quiet debut in the back pages of Little Dot #1 (Sept. 1953). He also appeared in the back pages of Little Lotta when she earned her own title in 1955. Surprisingly, it was another five years, after two tryout issues in Harvey Hits, before Richie Rich finally earned his own book, in 1960. During the remainder of the 1960s, Richie’s line expanded to include Richie Rich Millions, Richie Rich Dollars and Cents, and Richie Rich Success Stories. This latter title featured all-new stories for most of its run, despite it being in the guise of a reprint giant like the others.

THE POOR LITTLE RICH BOY WONDER

Though the Super Richie title itself debuted with the cover date of September 1975, Super Richie stories appeared in other Richie Rich titles for the better part of the decade before. The first appearance of the concept was in a story called “Crashman and Rippy,” in Richie Rich #56 (Apr. 1967). It’s not surprising that this tale appeared when the Adam West Batman TV series (1966–1968) was at the crest of its popularity.

You Bet Your Sweet Bippy, It’s Rippy! After a handful of appearances, Harvey’s poor little rich “superhero” spun off into his own title with Super Richie #1 (Sept. 1975). Cover art by Warren Kremer. © Classic Media, LLC.

Super Issue • BACK ISSUE • 43

by M a r k

Arnold

Taking a Bite Out of Crime (With apologies to MacGruff.) (left) Dagwood Bumstead becomes a superhero in Charlton Comics’ Blondie #211 (Dec. 1974). (right) Readers get a second helping in issue #212 (Feb. 1975). Cover art by Paul Fung, Jr. © King Features Syndicate, Inc.

Super-Dagwood, a.k.a. Super-Bumstead, truly personifies and earns the title of “What The--?!” When I got assigned this article, I thought I had heard of every “super” character from Supermouse to Super-Dog to Super-Horse to Super-Monkey to Super Richie to Super Goof. Never did I realize that Dagwood Bumstead from Blondie got into the act.

A BRIEF ‘BLONDIE’ HISTORY

King Features Syndicate’s long-running Blondie comic strip, which features the eponymous blonde and her sandwich-loving husband, Dagwood, was created by cartoonist Chic Young and debuted on September 8, 1930. Young’s son Dean took over the strip after his father’s death, on March 14, 1973. The success of the long-running Blondie comic strip led to many successful spinoffs in other media. Among them was a Blondie film series starring Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake, from 1938 through 1950. There was also a popular Blondie radio program that ran in tandem to the film series, but debuted in 1939 and had the same stars for most of its run. Later, there were two separate Blondie TV series with different casts, one in 1957 and one in 1968; both lasted only a season. There were also a couple of Blondie animated TV specials. 48 • BACK ISSUE • Super Issue

Dean Young has stated that the origin of the strip’s signature “Dagwood Sandwich,” stuffed with enormous amounts of cold cuts, cheese, bread slices, and other ingredients, occurred in the Blondie comic strip in 1936. The sandwiches are sometimes crowned with a simple toothpick that also pierces a green pimento olive. The Dagwood Sandwich became so iconic that it is now listed in the American Heritage Dictionary. It even inspired a short-lived chain of Dagwood’s Sandwich Shoppes, from 2006 through 2011. And, of course, Blondie enjoyed a lengthy run in comic books, lasting 29 years from four publishers—David McKay, Harvey Comics, King Comics, and Charlton Comics. Harvey also published Dagwood Comics (1950–1965), Blondie and Dagwood Family (1963–1965), Daisy and Her Pups (1951–1954), and 1953’s 100-page one-shot Blondie, Dagwood and Daisy. Though the interiors usually featured Chic Young reprints or material by Paul Fung, Jr., the Harvey Blondie covers were typically drawn by Warren Kremer. As explored in BACK ISSUE #136, in 1968 Charlton Comics picked up the license to publish comic books based upon King Features properties. Blondie began its Charlton run with issue #177 (Feb. 1969).

Alexander and Ilya Salkind, the father and son producing team, were the driving force that brought Superman to the big screen in 1978 with Superman: The Movie. They were responsible for the first three Christopher Reeve Superman movies and Helen Slater’s lone Supergirl movie. After the box office and critical disappointment of Superman III, they sold the rights to the character to Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus of Cannon Group, Inc. Cannon’s production, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, proved a box office and critical failure. Because of that movie and several other failed projects, by the late 1980s Cannon Group, Inc. was facing bankruptcy, and the Salkinds got the rights back to Superman. In 1988, the Salkinds decided to visit the Superman mythos once again, but this time they aimed for the small screen… and instead of Superman, they decided to tell the adventures of Superboy.

The Adventures of Superboy show starred John Haymes Newton (in Season One) and Gerard Christopher (in Seasons Two through Four) as Superboy/Clark Kent and Stacy Haiduk as Lana Lang. Superboy was a fun series and faithful to bringing many of Superman/Superboy’s foes, including Metallo, Mr. Mxyzptlk, and Bizarro, to life, some for the first time in live-action form. By the time the show ended in 1992, 100 half-hour episodes had been produced. At the time of this writing, all of them can now be streamed on Tubi, for free. And from many accounts, the show is bringing back great memories for original fans and is finding a whole new audience with their children. BACK ISSUE was able to sit down with Christopher and Haiduk to discuss their time on the show. – Dan Johnson Super Issue • BACK ISSUE • 53

interview by D a n

Johnson

DAN JOHNSON: How did you get the role of Superboy? Tell our readers what the audition process was like. GERARD CHRISTOPHER: As far as I remember, I got a call from my agent, and interestingly, I had told her a week or two earlier that I was not interested in continuing doing auditions. But she called me in May of 1989 and she said, “I’ve got this audition and its for a job like Superman.” I immediately said yes because throughout my life people always told me I looked like Superman. So I said, “You know what? Let me go for this thing.” So I went and I read for the casting director, and then she had me read for Ilya Salkind. Unbeknownst to me, on the spot, he said to her, “[He’s] the guy! I want him.” Obviously, he didn’t let me know that. They don’t let you know [they want you] because then you have a bargaining position. If they told you they want you for the job, then your agent can ask for more money. So they tell you they want to bring you back in for a screen test. So they brought me back in for the screen test two weeks later, down in Florida [where Superboy was produced]. So I am down there; and they had me read the same scenes and they had me reading against a guy that was a total shill. I wasn’t judging anybody, but he was a real thin, ultra-skinny guy, and he just didn’t look the role. But they were putting him in makeup, but I don’t know if they actually put him on camera. That’s something Ilya Salkind did to make it look like I had to work for the job. The long of the short of it though, I got the job. JOHNSON: What were your thoughts after you knew you had the role? CHRISTOPHER: It was great. I was super-excited. I wasn’t 100% sure I wanted to do the show at the time, but my father set me straight and told me I should do it. These jobs don’t come easily and the business is really tough. He made me understand that and that I should take it. What was the worse that could happen, right? So that was it.

Meet the Boy of Steel Promotional sheet from distributor Viacom promoting The Adventures of Superboy. Our hero is fighting Michael Callan as Metallo in the photo. Scan courtesy of Andy Mangels. Superboy TM & © DC Comics.

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JOHNSON: At the time the show was produced, very few actors had played this character, either as Superboy or Superman. What were you thinking about filling such big boots? CHRISTOPHER: It was a little bit nerve-wracking because you know it has been done before, and people like Christopher Reeve had done it. George Reeves was the Superman I used to watch when I

Arms Akimbo Gerard Christopher, who became Superboy with Season Two, striking a classic Super-pose in this publicity photo. Courtesy of Andy Mangels. Superboy TM & © DC Comics.

was a little kid. You know, people, depending on their generation, are really sold on the Superman of their day, and I knew there were big expectations, and I just wanted to get this right. I didn’t want to mess this up in any way and ruin anybody’s expectation of it. I was also incredibly excited about it because I was always a Superman fan as a kid. All of this was circulating in my head. This is such an iconic character and such a symbol of America, and a symbol of American power in the world, and it was something I wanted to get right. I was just super-excited for the opportunity to do it because I realized there are only a few people in the world who are ever going to get to do this, so this is something that goes down in history. There are lots and lots of television shows where lots of actors are hired, and they do a good job, and the show is on for a couple of years, but then it goes off the air and then it’s gone. [When it’s over,] people don’t really think about it [anymore]. But when you play a character like Superman, it goes on forever. I was very much aware of that and very respectful of that. JOHNSON: One of the magical things about playing a character like Superman is the fact that you are going to become someone’s definition of the character. You are going to be the first actor somebody sees playing him in a movie or on television. CHRISTOPHER: Like I said, it is mostly generational and it depends on who’s young at the time and who’s watching TV. I’m thinking of this one fan that is now in his 30s. His name is Sam and he lives in the Chicago area, and he keeps reminding me that I was the Superman of his day. That’s a big deal because there are millions of people who watched the show. Every week we had four million households watch the show, and it influenced so many of those people. And it goes on in reruns and now it is streaming on the Internet, so you affect people for a long time and that makes it important. JOHNSON: Did you have any concerns when you came into the show since you were taking over for the Superboy from Season One, John Haymes Newton? CHRISTOPHER: The only fear I had was that I might do something he did. Apparently, they didn’t like his acting and what he was doing, so I just wanted to make sure that I just did my thing and did the role my way. And I did it in a way that I thought was the right thing. I never saw an episode with him. I figured if this guy has done it wrong, and he’s done it in a way that is going to get him fired, I really don’t even want that imprint in my head because I want to go in a different direction. I was familiar with Christopher Reeve and George Reeves, and I think I knew the more iconic idea they had for the role, and that’s what I stuck with. JOHNSON: Tell us about working with you co-star, Stacy Haiduk. CHRISTOPHER: Stacy was great. She was really easy to work with and she’s a really wonderful, natural actress. It could have been very different if I had someone who was boring or not fun, but she was fun and she’s beautiful and talented. It was a great time [working with her]. And you know, everyone was great. Super Issue • BACK ISSUE • 55

interview by

Dan Johnson

DAN JOHNSON: How did you come to play Lana Lang on Superboy? STACY HAIDUK: The audition was in New York. [I read for] Lynn Stalmaster, who was the casting director; Robert Simmonds, who was the producer at the time; and Ilya Salkind. [Ilya’s] dad never left Neulily, so he would videotape the auditions and send them to him. It was at a hotel in New York, and I remember this was just before the 1988 writer’s strike, and they were casting for Lana Lang and Superboy. There were so many actors going up for this role. I didn’t know at the time, but Jennifer Aniston was at this audition, and this was years before Friends. After I read, I got a callback and was asked to wait in the hallway. I waited for a good hour and a half and I was wondering, “What’s going on? Why am I waiting?” I ended up reading with five different guys that were going up for Superboy [that day]. So I just kept reading and reading with each one and I was thinking, “Okay, now what?” About a week after the audition, I got a call to come in and do tests with a couple of Superboys they had in mind. We were going through the tests and I was pretty nervous and excited the whole time. But then nothing happened again. I was going, “What’s going on? I don’t understand this!” A week later, they finally found John Haymes Newton and that’s when they told me, “Oh, you had the role from the very beginning. We just had to find Superboy first before we could say you were cast!” So that was my intro to Superboy. It was very stressful, as all auditions are, especially since this was my first big role and I really wanted it.

Smallville Sweetheart Stacy Haiduk as Lana Lang, from Season One of Superboy. Viacom promotional still courtesy of Andy Mangels. Superboy TM & © DC Comics.

JOHNSON: I can’t imagine landing such a huge role and not knowing the job was yours for that long a time. That must have been nerve-wracking. HAIDUK: It was so nerve-wracking. I was not making any money in New York. I remember I was going to have to look for a new apartment at that point. Everything was so stressful, and I was wondering, “How the heck am I going to do this?” Thank God I got that role! I just kept thinking, “I just want to get out of New York and then I can come back with some money.” But thank God it just worked out perfectly. JOHNSON: You really looked the part. Speaking as a fan of Superman, it was like you had just walked off the pages of a Superboy comic. Super Issue • BACK ISSUE • 59

by E

Comic-book publishers are always looking for ways to reach new readers. One potential conduit is to adapt other popular material into comics form. From movies and television shows to classic novels, publishers have found ways to adapt other media. When video games became popular in the 1980s, comic publishers became interested in bringing them to the printed page. Some would be monthly series featuring video-game characters, while others took advantage of the new medium to get comics into the hands of potential new readers. DC Comics paired with its sister company Atari to produce Atari Force minicomics that were packaged with select video games including Star Raiders, Galaxian, and Defender. The minicomics were created by such luminaries as

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writers Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas, and artists Ross Andru, Dick Giordano, Gil Kane, and Mike DeCarlo. The publisher was serious about the connection between the video games and comic books. One of the most popular video games of all time was Super Mario Bros. (SMB) for the Nintendo Entertainment System. This game series was ripe for translation into comic books, and publisher Valiant was up to the task with several miniseries and one-shot specials in the early 1990s. Come along with BACK ISSUE as we jump around, collect a few coins, and save a princess from the clutches of King Koopa all while examining Mario and Luigi’s four-color adventures from Acclaim/Valiant. Super Issue • BACK ISSUE • 67

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW, CLICK THE LINK TO ORDER THIS ISSUE IN PRINT OR DIGITAL FORMAT!

NINTENDO COMICS SYSTEM

Valiant Comics was the brainchild of former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and businessman Steve Massarsky. The pair formed Voyager Communications in 1989, with Valiant being an imprint of the company. Video-game publisher Acclaim purchased the company in 1994, forgoing the comic imprint’s name in favor of their own. In a clever nod to the name of the system that put Super Mario Bros. on the map, Valiant named its Nintendo comic line the Nintendo Comics System (NCS). In addition to comics based on Mario, the NCS also featured titles Captain N: The Game Master (who first appeared in Nintendo Power magazine before making the leap to Saturday morning animated series) and Nintendo Comics System. The two-issue NCS anthology title featured several Super Mario comics as well as Captain N and The Legend of Zelda. Several of these comics would be reprinted in the Super Mario Bros. comic, including the two-pager “The Legend,” written by George Caragonne, with illustrations by Art Nichols and P. Zorito; it told the story of how Mario and Luigi went from plumbers to heroes. Mario even graced the cover alongside Captain N and Link from the Legend of Zelda series.

‘SUPER MARIO BROS .’: THE COMICS

With Valiant obtaining the rights to publish comics based on Nintendo properties, it was a no-brainer to do one on Super Mario Bros., especially with the

release of Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES on February From Hot Game 12, 1990. The game was one of the most hotly to Hot Comic anticipated games of the year, and the comic publisher wanted in on the action. In 1990, new stories Not only did Valiant invoke the NES when it filled Super Mario named its imprint NCS, but the cover to Super Mario Bros. #1 (Jan. 1990) emulated the front of the new Bros. Special video game with Mario in his Tanooki Suit. It even Edition #1, and noted that “exclusive scenes from the hottest game ever” were included inside. The Official Nintendo the title Super Mario Seal of Quality that graced all Nintendo games and BACK ISSUE #142 SUPER ISSUE! Superboy’sBros. Bronze Age adventures, interbegan a and sixrelated merchandise was also present. views with GERARD CHRISTOPHER and STACY HAIDUK of the Valiant got the aesthetic right, but however great Superboy live-action TV series. Plus:run. Super Goof, Super Richie issue (Rich), Super-Dagwood, Super Mario Bros., Frank Thorne’s Far or inventive a cover is, it is the contents that count. Out Green Super Cool, NICK MEGLIN and JACK DAVIS’ SuperFortunately, the publisher got it right insidefan,asandwell. © Nintendo of America Inc. more! Featuring a Superboy and Krypto cover by DAVE Issue #1 is a great example of the type ofCOCKRUM! materialEdited by MICHAEL EURY. that was featured in the books. Let’s take a look (84-page at FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 the issue to see what all the fun was about. https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_54&products_id=1696 The book starts off with a reprint of “The Legend” before showcasing Mario and friends in new stories and recurring gags including “Piranha-Round Sue,” “Dear Princess Toadstool,” “Koopa’s Believe It or Else!,” and “Cloud Nine.” The stories are humorous and pun-filled, but also expand Mario’s world, fleshing out the characters. In “Piranha-Round Sue,” the piranha plants are revolting because they don’t want to live under King Koopa’s rule any longer. This creates an added dynamic in the Mushroom Kingdom that goes beyond what is shown in the games, as well as giving personalities to background characters from Super Issue • BACK ISSUE • 69